Welcome to my Bethesda psychotherapy practice. All people are deserving of healthy relationships and healthier lives. If you are on my couch, chances are, you are suffering in some way. I will work with you to help you develop better coping strategies to more effectively understand and manage your emotions, such as anxiety, depression, anger, grief, and loss, to help you to worry less, communicate effectively with others, and to generally feel more contented with your life. I offer a supportive and warm environment where people from all cultures feel heard and understood as we work together to help you develop healthy coping skills that will allow you to work through life’s challenges.

Cindy Crane, LCSW-C

Owner/Director

Cindy is an LCSW-C with a Masters in Clinical Social Work from The Catholic University of America. Her practice is targeted at working with teens, adults, parents and couples, struggling with cancer, illness, grief, anxiety, stress, motivation, depression, relationships, academics, career, past trauma and PTSD symptoms, as well as ADHD. Working with the whole person in mind, Cindy's practice focuses on the person, the person's environmental stressors, and how these may be contributing to his or her issues. In addition to psychodynamic talk therapy, Cindy also uses clinical approaches including: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) techniques, EMDR techniques for specific types of trauma reprocessing, as well as Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) techniques with couples, families, and individuals.

Prior to becoming a therapist, Cindy was a journalist and publicist for 17 years with a focus on medical, trauma, and issues affecting women and children. In 2005, she traveled to Thailand twice with a team of doctors, nurses and television news affiliates to cover the tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia. It was during those two mission trips she realized she wanted to work more directly with people suffering and in need on an psychological level. This decision lead to her career shift to becoming a trauma therapist and deeply informs her therapeutic approach today with adults of all ages and young adults in her Crane Counseling, LLC practice.

In addition to her private Bethesda-based psychotherapy practice, Cindy is also a volunteer with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the Salvation Army International Disaster Relief Team, and the Montgomery County, MD Salvation Army Board. Cindy is also is a regular contributor with FOX 5 News in Washington, DC on breaking mental health issues and trends in the news. Click on IN THE NEWS to view these interviews.

EFT Couples Therapy

EFT is a systematic map of steps and stages that understands these cycles as the underpinnings of relationship distress. This couples therapy works well with all types of couples issues, including trauma, loss, adultery and lost emotional connections. Couples are helped to create nurturance, love and connection in their relationships. Change strategies and interventions are specified within the EFT steps and stages. Couples learn to identify their cycle, the emotions underlying the reactions and their parts in the dance as they come up in the session and at home. Couples learn to regulate their emotions and send clear, coherent emotional signals of their needs to their partner. They also learn how to respond in a healthy way to the signals that are sent to them.

Our Philosophy

Crane Counseling, LLC psychotherapy practice is based on helping clients to develop healthy relationships, manage emotions, communicate effectively, understand and fulfill individual needs, feel contented, be empowered to tackle life's many challenges - and take pleasure in the joys of life.